Are you friends w/ other subs in your district? If so, do you sometimes feel like you're in competition to get jobs? Do you have an arrangement that if either of you hears of a job that the other person would like to do, you'd tell him/her about it? I don't know another soul who's a sub in my district, so I guess we all grab what jobs we can get. I only do RSP & speech, so that leaves most of the jobs to the others.
At my main school there is another regular sub who has been subbing there twice as long as I have. This is a good sized school so often we're there on the same day if multiple teachers are out. She has children in the school and chooses not to sub every day. There is no competition between us. There is one whole grade level that she subs predominantly, and one that I sub predominantly. She, another sub, and I also attend staff functions outside of school. As for other subs, one shares a mutual friend with me, and generally I'm friendly with the few other semi-regulars. Oh, and one of my friends used to sub in this district (she now teaches at a private school) but she preferred upper grade elementary on up and I prefer K-3. I never felt in competition with her. She did not have a regular school, however, so I would sometimes try to notify her of assignments if I saw them online.
I know a couple of the other substitute teachers who work quite often, like me. I'm friendly with them, but I am very aware that we are in competition with each other. I don't know if they see it that way, but I do. I feel a pang of jealousy when I hear someone else got a week-long job, even though I've had more than my share of long-term subbing positions. And I'm careful not to reveal any of my "secrets" to picking up as many jobs as possible. I don't enjoy being this way, but it IS a competition, and I do have bills to pay. It's kind of sad....
I've seen one of the guys from my Effective Teacher Training Class several times since we finished the course. Sometimes we ended up subbing at the same school and sometimes we just passed each other outside of school. He got a regular position with one of the high schools last year, so I didn't see him much after that. Another sub I met during my first sub assignment has become a good friend and even showed me how to set up an online calendar she had designed so teachers/secretaries could check her availability schedule with the click of a mouse and "reserve" her if they day they needed was open. I also met some other subs during my internship. They mainly sub at that one school, so I'm sure they get called more than I to come there (which saddens me because I REALLY miss the kids from my classes), but I get called regularly to sub for bus drivers there, so I still see them every now and then. Of course, I start training for my desk clerk job tomorrow, so that will cut into my availability for subbing. :unsure:
